Thursday, November 1, 2012

iced pumpkin cookies

Once, a million years ago, I took the train from NYC to a tiny (and kinda scary) Connecticut town to visit Shannon while he was rehearsing a musical about the life of John Philip Sousa.

A few things that are sharp in my memory from that weekend include:

1. The sweet man who was playing Sousa was so committed that he shaved his hairline back a couple inches so he'd more closely resemble the actual Sousa. Shannon told me this in advance and while I was shocked someone would consider this extreme measure for a regional theatre production, I couldn't wait to lay my eyes on it. When I finally met him, I couldn't stop staring (I had a problem) and even afterward, spent WAY too much time wondering how that was gonna look growing back in. Like a headband of 5-o'clock shadow? Would he shave the rest of his head so it could grow back together as one unit? I still wonder about this and how it all turned out.

2. We were in our young 20s so we thought it'd be cute/totally normal/romantic to share his twin bed. I literally fell out of it in the middle of the night and remember lying there on the cold floor, rubbing my sore hip and thinking: What am I doing?? This is bullshit. That may have been the exact moment I became an adult.

3. One of his cast-mates used an empty Lays potato chip bag as a purse. As. A. Purse. Think about it.

4. One afternoon, we walked in on his roommate: a sad, bespectacled soprano recluse in her late 40s. She sat cross-legged on the couch with a plastic grocery-store tray in her lap that contained several pale orange, frosted cupcakes. She caught us staring and blurted, "What?! My doctor said I need to include more pumpkin in my diet."

I think everyone needs more pumpkin in their diet this time of year. And if the carrier is a cupcake (or a cookie for that matter), it's better than no pumpkin at all, right? So:

Cream together the sugars and butter with an electric mixer several minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg, pumpkin, and vanilla and beat until well mixed. Add dry ingredients a bit at a time and mix until just incorporated. Drop on parchment-lined baking sheets by tablespoonfuls; moisten your fingers with water and flatten slightly. Bake 16 minutes or until just beginning to turn golden, taking care not to over bake.

Make the icing: combine the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and melted butter. Stir with a whisk or fork until smooth. Dip the tops of completely cooled cookies into the icing and dry completely on a rack before storing.

(Alternately, you can make less icing and just drizzle instead of dip. But do you really want less icing?)